JENNIFER HUDSON’S INSPIRATIONAL BOLD MOVE

Having achieved worldwide acclaim as a singer — and bagging an Academy Award for her acting chops to boot — Jennifer Hudson ticks all the boxes if you are looking for a success story. Yet, this wasn’t always her story.

There was a time when Hudson just couldn’t catch a break. “If nobody will listen to me,” she decided one day, “I’ll listen to myself sing.” It’s hard to imagine such a talent struggling for recognition, but the struggle was very real for a while. Then came ‘American Idol’ and the world was her oyster… until adversity struck again.

In 2008, her mother, brother and seven-year-old nephew were murdered and the tragedy (expectedly) hit Hudson hard. “I went from being an aunt, having a mom, and being a child to not having a mom, becoming a mom, and raising my own child,” Jennifer confessed to ‘Glamour’ magazine recently, while explaining how impossibly hard it was for her to get back up and go forward after such a catastrophic loss. From being the girl who couldn’t believe how “incredibly blessed” she had been in her “young career,” to learning life’s hardest lesson in one fell swoop, Jennifer now says, “You never know how much you can get through until you’re going through it.”

Allowing parenting, love and fitness to heal her, Jennifer Hudson is back in the spotlight — where she belongs. Her bold move? When faced with the worst crisis imaginable, she never allowed herself to lose faith in the goodness of life.